Stranded
by fallendragon217
Summary: Matt, Teresa, Seth, Stephanie, Preston, and Rebecca all live peacefully on a small island with other hybrids like them. But when they are betrayed and stranded on Earth, they must cooperate if they ever want to escape and live peacefully back in their world.


"Good morning!" KC yelled. I was jolted out of a disturbing dream I was having in which I was blown up by my best friend Preston. The sky darkened her auburn hair and somehow darkened her jet-black wings.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Good morning."

Today's the big day!" KC, our 24-year-old mentor, yelled again, now invading anyone's sleep. Except for Preston. A roll of thunder, not KC yelling, woke up Preston. He's weird. Preston's a super heavy sleeper, but something super quiet can wake him up. Like the odd roll of thunder. Across the room, Seth stared out the window at, what was to him, soundless rain. Seth is deaf, so all of us here at the lodge know sign language. To me, the rain sounded like murder. It fell heavily and loudly onto the ground. Not a good omen, considering the importance of today.

"Ok everyone, get ready!" KC yelled happily and went down the hall to terrorize the girls. I glanced at the darkened sky, then at my clock. Four AM! No wonder my alarm didn't go off.

We all got dressed quickly. Seth took a shower, which seemed unnecessary in this type of weather. I mean, you don't even go outside and get dirty.

I had to sit down to put on my shoes. They're a fabric boot with leather and metal on the outside layers. Talk about excessive. But, they had helped with training, which ended yesterday when we all turned thirteen.

We met up with the girls in the hallway. Stephanie and Teresa greeted us warmly, but Rebecca hung back, her icy blue eyes calculating all of us awkwardly.

I looked away as we all trudged downstairs, the heaviness of our boots slowing us down.

"Hey guys!"Lucas said, "Ready for today?"

Today is the day we get our initiation into the Community of Hybrids. All Guardians, Protectors, Muses, and others of our race (which happens to be getting scarce) all dream of the day they get their powers. All kids train at the lodge until they are 13, then they start missions until age 18. That's when they go out into the world. Most of us are half-animal, as we are half bird, half-human. KC and Lucas are the only others at the lodge like us.

A various assortment of answers met him ranging from "YEAH!" to "Heck, no!" Lucas looked worried and said, "Get something to eat."

Lucas is another one of the trainers here at the lodge for kids my age, but he feels like a phony. KC feels more genuine to me, like a real person that cares.

We went and sat down at the kitchen table for this seventeenth of the lodge. The lodge is separated into several sections for different ages. There are 17 sections for ages 0-17. We are in section 13, Bird.

"I can't eat," Stephanie said, and we all nodded our agreement.

"It's five am," Preston groaned to himself.

Seth can read lips to some degree, so he signed back, "Ready or not, here it comes!"

"It's five am. The ceremony starts at ten, so we have five hours of free time," Teresa said.

"Let's do something then! Who wants to go to the backyard?" Preston asked. All our hands shot into the air. All except Rebecca.

So Teresa counted. I think, personally, she was trying to piss off Rebecca, but to this day I can't be sure exactly. "Me, Seth, Stephanie, Preston, and Matt, just enough to play capture the flag!"

We all groaned in protest. "How about some old fashioned soccer?" Stephanie asked, and Seth brightened. Soccer was his favorite sport.

"To the backyard I say!" Preston yelled and we all ran out the door, and soon, the Rebecca incident was forgotten, along with the girl.

The sun came up soon over our closed in backyard. The ground was still slushy and gross though.

"Pass!" I yelled to Stephanie. Her brown ponytail flopped as she slammed the ball straight into my stomach. I literally (no joke) flew into the bushes. We have a super strength issue sometimes.

"Sorry," Stephanie's voice sounded through the dense bushes. I sat up and only my head and the tips of my wings poked through the bushes. They all cracked up for some reason and then we stopped. Something was wrong. Then a huge eagle, like ten-foot wingspan and all, swooped down over us and set the bushes on fire with its fiery breath. We screamed and we ran to the door, where Teresa punched in the code in the keypad. We ran into the kitchen, all feeling scared and vulnerable. Rebecca laughed. I scowled back at her and she looked offended. Rebecca: 0, Matt: 1

"Hey!" KC yelled about two minutes later. We were still all shaken (except Rebecca). "Get ready!"

"Ooh, I'd rather face the eagle than go to the ceremony." Teresa said. No one had an answer for her because our answers were divided.

Ten minutes later, we were all standing in a line in front of all our other peers. Kids way younger and some older stared at us. I shifted uncomfortably in line and KC ruffled my black hair. I felt like a zebra. White wings, black hair, white shirt, black pants, dark eyes, pale skin. "It's gonna be OK."

I looked up at her. I felt really short, as she is 5'11 and was wearing 3-inch heels. She towered over my five foot two height. "Are you 100% sure?"

"Matt, I don't think I've ever been more hundred percent than now." KC said and went up to give her speech. She took a nervous breath and began a boring monologue that I'd never listened to before at all our other peers' orientation, from age 7, peering up at the stage that was elevated so high. But, now I listened with rapt attention, hanging on to every last word.

"Teresa Chase, Preston Fray, Stephanie Williams, Rebecca Andresen, Seth Griffith, and Matt Khajadorian, please come forward." KC said. We all stepped up onto the platform, scared beyond reason.

"Do you promise to protect the others of our race, help everyone at all times, and to live by the Code of the World?"

"Yes," we all said.

"Now," She addressed the audience, "Do you accept these Guardians and Protectors into our land and give them the powers you all possess?"

"Yes we do." The whole room seemed to boom.

"Then by the power of God, may you protect his people and this earth." KC said solemnly and shut her book. We're not only Guardians and Protectors of each other; we are that of the world and those in it. And we will protect and guard them, or die trying.

KC pulled the giant tray out of the oven, and all of us nearly screamed. There were 5000 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, melting away for the celebration.

"Can I have one?" Rebecca whined for about the sixtieth time, and I think even KC was getting fed up. Actually, Seth was getting fed up, and he couldn't even hear her. That's how annoying she is. Pardon me as I go on a twenty-minute rant about how much I hate her...

"NO," KC said firmly. She handed the tray to Seth, and nodded towards the door. Seth stumbled off towards the door, everyone trying not to knock the tray out of his hands or eat them, for that matter.

"Rebecca, why don't you get the chicken out of the other oven and take it out?" KC said.

"Fine," Rebecca said rudely. I tripped her on the way.

Teresa and I were throwing tablecloths on the tables when Lucas came out of his study. "What's going on?"

"Duh, the ceremony." Seth signed. Lucas gave him the death stare and ran into the kitchen.

"What was that all about?" I asked. Teresa shrugged and taped down the edge of the tablecloth. The patio was on a cliff hanging out over the miles and miles of clouds below. The covers on the patio were thin pieces of wood, all white, with a removable cloth top. The pillars were small and smooth round squares of wood, beautifully carved with symbols from the Bible.

"Sometimes I just want to fly away." She whispered.

"What?" I asked her.

"I just want to be free."

"Oh." I said. "I just want a family. I always see people at the holidays in their houses all together and happy and–"

My voice cracked.

"Matt, you have us," Teresa smiled, but somehow it failed to cheer me.

I was left at the lodge when I was 3 with no memory or recollection except for my name. Which I hate to death. Good thing there was a way to shorten my first name to Matt, or I would die (not literally).

Then KC came screaming from the kitchen.


End file.
